Magneto-structural diversity of Co(ii) compounds with 1-benzylimidazole induced by linear pseudohalide coligands

The magneto-structural diversity of 1-benzylimidazole-containing cobalt(ii) compounds with linear pseudohalide ions (NCS⁻, NCO⁻, and N₃⁻) is explored.

New Twists and Turns for Actinide Chemistry: Organometallic Infinite Coordination Polymers of Thorium Diazide

Two organometallic 1D infinite coordination polymers and two organometallic monometallic complexes of thorium diazide have been synthesized and characterized. Steric control of these self-assembled arrays, which are dense in thorium and nitrogen, has also been demonstrated: infinite chains can be circumvented by using steric bulk either at the metallocene or with a donor ligand in the wedge.

3D Co(ii) coordination polymer with ferrimagnetic-like layers based on azide and tetrazolate bridges showing slow magnetic dynamics

A novel layer-pillared 3D coordination polymer composed of unprecedented Co(ii) layers with azide and tetrazolate bridges exhibits the ferrimagnetic-like behaviors with spin-glass dynamic relaxation.

4-Substituent pyridine directed cobalt(ii) azides: solvothermal synthesis, structure, and magnetic properties

Azido-bridged magnetic complexes: Different 4-substituent groups of pyridine co-ligands directed the linkages between azide and Co(ii) ions, to give three azide–Co(ii) complexes with different structures and magnetic properties.

An azide-bridged copper(II) complex: poly[piperazine-1,4-dium [tetra-μ₃-azido-κ¹²N¹:N¹:N¹-hexa-μ₂-azido-κ¹²N¹:N¹-di-μ₂-azido-κ⁴N¹:N³-pentacopper(II)] tetrahydrate]

A new Cu(II)-azide complex, {(C4H12N2)[Cu5(N3)12]·4H2O}n, has been synthesized by the reaction of piperazine, Cu(OAc)2·2H2O (OAc is acetate) and NaN3. In the structure, μ2-1,1- and μ3-1,1,1-azide anions bridge five Cu(II) cations to form a linear pentanuclear cluster unit, which is further linked by μ2-1,1- and μ2-1,3-azide anions to form a two-dimensional condensed [Cu5(N3)12]n layer. The diprotonated piperazine and the solvent water molecules are hydrogen bonded to the coordination layers to form a three-dimensional supramolecular network.

Versatility of azide in serendipitous assembly of copper(II) magnetic polyclusters

Engineering at the molecular level is one of the most exciting new developments for the generation of functional materials. However, the concept of designing polynuclear extended structures from bottom up is still not mature. Although progress has been made with secondary building units (SBUs) in metal organic frameworks (MOFs), the control seems to be just an illusion when it comes to bridging ligands such as the azide ion. When we say that the azido ligand is versatile in its bridging capabilities, what we mean is that it would be difficult to predict or control its bridging properties. However, this kind of serendipity is not always bad news. For example, scientists have shown that the azido ligand can mediate magnetic exchanges between paramagnetic metals in a predictable fashion (usually depending upon the bonding geometries). Therefore, it is a well-respected ligand in polynuclear assemblies. Serendipitous assemblies offer new magnetic structures that we may not otherwise even think about synthesizing. The azido ligand forms a variety of complexes with copper(II) using different blocking amines or pyridine based ligands. Its structural nature changes upon changing the substitution on amine, as well as the amount of blocking ligand. In principle, if we take any of these complexes and provide more coordination sites to the bridging azido ligands by removing a fraction of the blocking ligands, we can get new complexes with intricate structural networks and therefore different magnetic properties with the same components as used for the parent complex. In this Account, we mainly discuss the development of a number of new topological and magnetic exchange systems synthesized using this concept. Not all of these new complexes can be grouped according to their basic building structures or even by the ratio of the metal to blocking ligand. Therefore, we divided the discussion by the nuclearity of the basic building structures. Some of the complexes with the same nuclearities have very similar or even almost identical basic structures. However, the way these building units are joined together (by the azido bridges) to form the overall extended structures differ almost in every case. The complexes having the Cu6 core are particularly interesting from a structural point of view. Although they have almost identical basic structures, some of them are extended in three dimensions, but two of them are extended in two dimensions by two different bridging networks. In the complexes having linear Cu4 basic units, we find that using similar ligands does not always give the same bridging networks even within the basic building structures. These complexes have also enriched the field of molecular magnetism. One of the complexes with a Cu3 building unit has provided us with the opportunity to study the competing behavior of two different kinds of magnetic exchange mechanism (ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic) acting simultaneously between two metal ions. Through density functional theory calculations, we showed how they work independently and their additive nature to produce the overall effect. The exciting methodology for the generation of copper(II) polyclusters presented in this Account will provide the opportunity to explore analogous serendipitous assembly of diverse structures with interesting magnetic behavior using other transition metal ions having more than one unpaired electrons.